For the most part, I agree with your sentiments. However, the following point makes a few of assumptions:
"...or we'll switch to something better from another company."
In my view, that's assuming that Microsoft doesn't (1) buy out competing firms purely to embrash-extend-extinguish their technologies, or (2) buy government officials to manipulate the legislative environment to suit their legal aims, or (3) leverage their financial muscle to fund legal manipulations of the justice system to produce warped interpretations of existing statues to assault projects that can't be touched using means (1) or (2).
Fortunately, we have a sort of market-based checks and balances system in the form of private sector organizations like IBM, Redhat, etc... firms that have a vested interest in opposing Microsoft's efforts to manipulate the system too much. Both sides have the ability to play dirty pool, which is why I'm not a huge fan of legislative intervention in private sector affairs in the first place. It just tends to further complicate something that's already quite complex and moves too fast for legislators to keep up with in any event.
I hope you're right about your predicted outcomes, optimistic though they may be.
I'm more impressed with the real math (one plus one equals two, in case you missed it); Sure, I'm writing this post from an Ubuntu64 machine, but Microsoft is making more every day from compound interest than I'd wager they'd pay for ten years of coding upkeep for XP...
The article is about why people are so incredibly concerned that their firm might be exposed to major legal liability and loss of public trust due to unintended disclosure of dirty little secrets via corporate email.
I agree with you on the effect of overdosing the population with CG. I still remember seeing Jurassic Park in the theater as a kid, and having to pick my jaw up off the floor every few minutes (coupled with having to wipe the drool off my shoes from seeing all those shiny SGI boxes). I don't get that feeling from CG film sequences anymore. I actually get more of a kick out of browsing still-image sites like Digital Blasphemy.
Yeah, it's kind of sad, but it was inevitable. Look at the bright side: we're getting closer and closer to realtime immersive photorealistic worlds. When I get to build my own universe, that will be cool.
P.S. John Arnold from JP is still one of my personal heroes:).
I could have made my post a little more clear:). I'm in school, but not in college. My school is presently a "C-school" in the Navy. Since I'm married, I live off-base and have business-class cable at my house.
That sucks about the throttling. I guess we should go ahead and outlaw all guns, too, since somebody might use one to commit a crime...
Right, and I'm tying this in a web browser that's running on an operating system developed and supported by nothing but complete morons, right?
The fact that you don't derive immediate economic benefit from any one particular project doesn't mean that project won't improve your economic standing in a different manner.
Just get all the nation's leading universities to drop their backbone connections in favor of Comcast cable. I promise you, you'll see a huge reduction in network utilization, and BitTorrent connections won't trouble your admins any longer.
I use what suits my needs, as well. I do insist that people take the same course of action when it comes to technology-related freedoms that they do (read: are supposed to do) with their elected officials: if someone's doing something, or proposing something, that would serve to limit a person's freedoms, you should stand up and say something about it.
We're talking about opinions that get taken into account when it comes to W3C standards. These standards don't just apply to commerical products used in the private sector; they have an incredibly long-lasting influence on government and education markets as well. Open standards benefit all three areas, and should be supported at all cost versus proprietary, closed systems.
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Operating System: Debian GNU/Linux (closed-source, proprietary variant of Windows CE)
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VNC: Leverage the proprietary power of Microsoft's RDP protocol for remote access!
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Interesting that the generator for the linked PDF file is: "Mac OS X 10.4.11 Quartz PDFContext" (reference Apple's UNIX and Open Source section).
I think they (at least the document author) like open standards when it suits them, and argue against them when it's something they think they ought to be able to control for profit.
"Give a man a fish, and you've fed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, and you've fed him for a lifetime." Give people in developing nations the tools they need to learn how to compete in the global economy, and you're doing far better than simply donating food. I'm not saying we should stop donating basic subsistence supplies to these nations, but wouldn't it be better if we could do something to increase their ability to educate themselves and take an affirmative step in charting their own course in future economics?
Perhaps Apple, after careful and measured consideration, thought any patent claims on their technology would amount to a handful of bullshit if actually put to a legal test. As other posters have noted, coming to a settlement agreement with a company doesn't mean you actually believe their claim has legal merit, it juts means you believe you'll spend more than the settlement value fighting it in court.
Maybe Apple has a more noble aim, to actually push the issue and get a positive verdict in court. Not that I put that much stock in Apple's moral intentions, given the fact that they're a publicly traded company (no pun intended).
I thought the linked article was going to show us some sort of new insight into the canine cognitive mechanisms. Nope. The article goes into zero detail and basically makes a statement equivalent to: "Yep, we've confirmed dogs can tell the difference between other dogs and a stop sign." Wow. Given the fact that dogs are highly social animals, capable of complex coordinated behavior like hunting in packs, that's such a shocking new insight.
I wonder how long the video footage will be archived for. You could have a relatively small number of people go on a fishing expedition for a long time after the Olympic Games are concluded, looking for "anti-State" activities in the populace. Not that a nation like China, renowned for its human rights record, would ever do anything like that...
Slashdot Mirror
Perhaps you should take a look at Gnash, the open source Flash player. Works for me.
For the most part, I agree with your sentiments. However, the following point makes a few of assumptions:
"...or we'll switch to something better from another company."
In my view, that's assuming that Microsoft doesn't (1) buy out competing firms purely to embrash-extend-extinguish their technologies, or (2) buy government officials to manipulate the legislative environment to suit their legal aims, or (3) leverage their financial muscle to fund legal manipulations of the justice system to produce warped interpretations of existing statues to assault projects that can't be touched using means (1) or (2).
Fortunately, we have a sort of market-based checks and balances system in the form of private sector organizations like IBM, Redhat, etc... firms that have a vested interest in opposing Microsoft's efforts to manipulate the system too much. Both sides have the ability to play dirty pool, which is why I'm not a huge fan of legislative intervention in private sector affairs in the first place. It just tends to further complicate something that's already quite complex and moves too fast for legislators to keep up with in any event.
I hope you're right about your predicted outcomes, optimistic though they may be.
Good points. I think all too often people hiding behind the corporate veil subscribe to the philosophy of "it's only illegal if you get caught."
I'm more impressed with the real math (one plus one equals two, in case you missed it); Sure, I'm writing this post from an Ubuntu64 machine, but Microsoft is making more every day from compound interest than I'd wager they'd pay for ten years of coding upkeep for XP...
"The article is about corporate email."
The article is about why people are so incredibly concerned that their firm might be exposed to major legal liability and loss of public trust due to unintended disclosure of dirty little secrets via corporate email.
Sweet Jesus, I think I lost some hair looking at that page.
I don't know about the character, but Kevin Spacey is definitely an alien.
Noticed the question in the tagging section... apparently, "prote" is short for "protester"... news to me :).
I agree with you on the effect of overdosing the population with CG. I still remember seeing Jurassic Park in the theater as a kid, and having to pick my jaw up off the floor every few minutes (coupled with having to wipe the drool off my shoes from seeing all those shiny SGI boxes). I don't get that feeling from CG film sequences anymore. I actually get more of a kick out of browsing still-image sites like Digital Blasphemy.
:).
Yeah, it's kind of sad, but it was inevitable. Look at the bright side: we're getting closer and closer to realtime immersive photorealistic worlds. When I get to build my own universe, that will be cool.
P.S. John Arnold from JP is still one of my personal heroes
Rocky Balboa is just glad it's all over.
MOD PARENT UP. Now that's an insightful, if a bit acidic, observation if ever I saw one.
When "Tron - Final Cut" is released, it's gonna smash every box office record for the next 10 years. Just you wait.
That was just wrong. Either take a nice bleach bath, or immediately commence Mortification of the Flesh.
I could have made my post a little more clear :). I'm in school, but not in college. My school is presently a "C-school" in the Navy. Since I'm married, I live off-base and have business-class cable at my house.
That sucks about the throttling. I guess we should go ahead and outlaw all guns, too, since somebody might use one to commit a crime...
Right, and I'm tying this in a web browser that's running on an operating system developed and supported by nothing but complete morons, right?
The fact that you don't derive immediate economic benefit from any one particular project doesn't mean that project won't improve your economic standing in a different manner.
Just get all the nation's leading universities to drop their backbone connections in favor of Comcast cable. I promise you, you'll see a huge reduction in network utilization, and BitTorrent connections won't trouble your admins any longer.
I wonder how many students at technical colleges and universities are using BitTorrent to download Linux ISOs, free software packages, etc...
I know that's what I use it for (no, I'm not kidding).
I use what suits my needs, as well. I do insist that people take the same course of action when it comes to technology-related freedoms that they do (read: are supposed to do) with their elected officials: if someone's doing something, or proposing something, that would serve to limit a person's freedoms, you should stand up and say something about it.
We're talking about opinions that get taken into account when it comes to W3C standards. These standards don't just apply to commerical products used in the private sector; they have an incredibly long-lasting influence on government and education markets as well. Open standards benefit all three areas, and should be supported at all cost versus proprietary, closed systems.
- Operating System: Debian GNU/Linux (closed-source, proprietary variant of Windows CE)
- Gnumeric: For all your spreadsheet needs (based on Lotus 1-2-3, a hot new player in the spreadsheet market)
- VNC: Leverage the proprietary power of Microsoft's RDP protocol for remote access!
And much more! Please respond to clue@nokia.com to pick up your prize today.Interesting that the generator for the linked PDF file is: "Mac OS X 10.4.11 Quartz PDFContext" (reference Apple's UNIX and Open Source section).
I think they (at least the document author) like open standards when it suits them, and argue against them when it's something they think they ought to be able to control for profit.
"Give a man a fish, and you've fed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, and you've fed him for a lifetime." Give people in developing nations the tools they need to learn how to compete in the global economy, and you're doing far better than simply donating food. I'm not saying we should stop donating basic subsistence supplies to these nations, but wouldn't it be better if we could do something to increase their ability to educate themselves and take an affirmative step in charting their own course in future economics?
Perhaps Apple, after careful and measured consideration, thought any patent claims on their technology would amount to a handful of bullshit if actually put to a legal test. As other posters have noted, coming to a settlement agreement with a company doesn't mean you actually believe their claim has legal merit, it juts means you believe you'll spend more than the settlement value fighting it in court.
Maybe Apple has a more noble aim, to actually push the issue and get a positive verdict in court. Not that I put that much stock in Apple's moral intentions, given the fact that they're a publicly traded company (no pun intended).
How about those too lazy to simply type "imdb.com" in the address bar? Is there a separate prize for them?
I thought the linked article was going to show us some sort of new insight into the canine cognitive mechanisms. Nope. The article goes into zero detail and basically makes a statement equivalent to: "Yep, we've confirmed dogs can tell the difference between other dogs and a stop sign." Wow. Given the fact that dogs are highly social animals, capable of complex coordinated behavior like hunting in packs, that's such a shocking new insight.
Don't waste your time clicking on the TFA.
I wonder how long the video footage will be archived for. You could have a relatively small number of people go on a fishing expedition for a long time after the Olympic Games are concluded, looking for "anti-State" activities in the populace. Not that a nation like China, renowned for its human rights record, would ever do anything like that...